Deaths in May 2009

• Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent country of citizenship, reason for notability, cause of death, and reference.

May 2009

1

• Delara Darabi, 22, Iranian convicted murderer, executed by hanging.
• Fred Delmare, 87, German actor, complications from pneumonia.
• Ric Estrada, 81, Cuban-born American comic book artist, co-creator of Power Girl, prostate cancer.
• Danny Gans, 52, American entertainer.
• Norman Gash, 97, British historian.
• Brian Grove, 88, Australian cricketer.
• Albert Hamilton Gordon, 107, American businessman.
• George Hannan, 98, Australian politician.
• Jokke Kangaskorpi, 37, Finnish footballer.
• Jack D. Maltester, 95, American politician, mayor of San Leandro, California.
• Derek Noonan, 62, British rugby league and rugby union player.
• Marc Rocco, 46, American film director and screenwriter.
• Sunline, 13, New Zealand champion racehorse, euthanized.
• John Wilke, 54, American investigative reporter, pancreatic cancer.

2

• Alfred Appel Jr., 75, American scholar, expert on Vladimir Nabokov, heart failure.
• K. Balaji, 74, Indian Tamil actor and producer, multiple organ failure.
• Augusto Boal, 78, Brazilian dramatist and theater director, respiratory failure.
• Víctor Andrés Catena, 84, Spanish screenwriter and director.
• Marilyn French, 79, American writer, heart failure.
• Eilene Galloway, 102, American space law researcher and editor, breast cancer.
• Harold Hankins, 78, British electrical engineer and academic administrator, Vice-Chancellor of UMIST.
• Kiyoshiro Imawano, 58, Japanese rock musician.
• Janus Kamban, 95, Faroese sculptor and graphic designer.
• Jack Kemp, 73, American politician and football player, candidate for Vice President, cancer.
• Carole C. Noon, 59, American primatologist, founder of Save the Chimps, pancreatic cancer.
• Robert Pauley, 85, American executive, President of ABC Radio, heart failure.
• Virginia Prince, 96, American transgender activist.

3

• Bobby Campbell, 86, Scottish football player and manager.
• Robert B. Choate Jr., 84, American food lobbyist.
• Committed, 29, American thoroughbred racehorse, euthanized.
• Echo, 63-64, African bush elephant.
• John Elsworthy, 77, Welsh football player.
• Eddie Hui, 65, Hong Kong public servant, Commissioner of Police, cancer.
• Eleanor Perenyi, 91, American gardener and writer, cerebral hemorrhage.
• Ram Balkrushna Shewalkar, 78, Indian Marathi writer, cardiac arrest.
• Ralph Thompson, 95, British animal artist.

4

• Nicholas Clemente, 80, American judge.
• Dom DeLuise, 75, American actor, kidney failure.
• Sir Geoffrey Foot, 93, Australian politician.
• Edward Stewart Kennedy, 97, American historian.
• Charles Lugano, 59, Kenyan politician, after short illness.
• Martha Mason, 71, American author, lived 60 years in an iron lung.
• Fritz Muliar, 89, Austrian actor.
• Jane Randolph, 93, American actress.
• Gisela Stein, 73, German actress.

5

• Benjamín Flores, 24, Mexican boxer, brain injury during a match.
• David S. King, 91, American politician, U.S. Representative for Utah.
• Richard Miller, 83, American operatic tenor and educator, Professor Emeritus of Voice.
• Dewey Smith, 36, American diver.
• Elsie B. Washington, 66, American author, wrote first African American romance novel, multiple sclerosis and cancer.
• Murasaki Yamada, 60, Japanese manga artist.

6

• Peyman Abadi, 36, Iranian actor, car accident.
• Erik Bluemel, 32, American professor, bicycle accident.
• Sam Cohn, 79, American talent agent, after short illness.
• Leon Despres, 101, American attorney and politician, heart failure.
• Ean Evans, 48, American bassist, cancer.
• Sima Eyvazova, 75, Azerbaijani diplomat, first Permanent Representative to the UN.
• Kevin Grubb, 31, American NASCAR driver, suicide by gunshot.
• Sid Laverents, 100, American amateur filmmaker, pneumonia.
• Lev Loseff, 71, Russian poet and literary critic.
• Bob Meyer, 76, Australian logician, lung cancer.
• W. Wesley Peterson, 85, American mathematician and computer scientist.
• Valentin Varennikov, 85, Russian general.
• Viola Wills, 69, American pop singer, cancer.

7

• Robin Blaser, 83, American-born Canadian poet, Griffin Poetry Prize winner.
• Mickey Carroll, 89, American actor.
• Ian Cundy, 64, British Anglican prelate, Bishop of Peterborough, mesothelioma.
• Linda Dangcil, 66, American actress, throat cancer.
• John Furia Jr., 79, American screenwriter, President of the Writers Guild, West.
• Alan Gilbertson, 81, New Zealand cricketer.
• Tony Marsh, 77, British racing driver.
• David Mellor, 78, British industrial designer, manufacturer and retailer.
• Frank Melton, 60, American politician, mayor of Jackson, Mississippi.
• John Murphy, 95, Irish building contractor.
• Danny Ozark, 85, American baseball manager.
• Brian Sorenson, 79, New Zealand cricketer.
• Wayland Young, 2nd Baron Kennet, 85, British politician and writer.

8

• Gianni Baget Bozzo, 84, Italian Roman Catholic priest and politician.
• Fons Brydenbach, 54, Belgian athlete, cancer.
• Dom DiMaggio, 92, American baseball player, brother of Joe DiMaggio, pneumonia.
• Hideyuki Fujisawa, 83, Japanese Go player, aspiration pneumonia.
• Carlos Kloppenburg, 89, Brazilian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Novo Hamburgo.
• Ninel Kurgapkina, 80, Russian prima ballerina, road accident.
• Greg Palmer, 61, American writer, television reporter and Emmy Award-winning journalist, lung cancer.
• Bud Shrake, 77, American journalist and novelist, lung cancer.
• Eunice Taylor, 75, American baseball player.

9

• Eileen Albright, 81, American baseball player
• Stephen Bruton, 60, American songwriter and guitarist, throat cancer.
• Chuck Daly, 78, American basketball coach, pancreatic cancer.
• Travis Edmonson, 76, American singer-songwriter and guitarist, heart failure.
• Michael Fox, 75, British-born Israeli lawyer.
• Cyril Hart, 96, British forestry expert.
• Henry T. King, 89, American attorney, Nuremberg trials prosecutor, cancer.
• David Marcus, 85, Irish literary editor, after long illness.
• Ernest Millington, 93, British politician and educator, last living World War II-era member of the British Parliament.
• Eugene Smith, 88, American gospel singer.
• Evgenios Spatharis, 85, Greek shadow play artist, fall.
• Mendi Rodan, 80, Romanian-born Israeli conductor and violinist, cancer.
• Jean-Claude Van Geenberghe, 46, Belgian-born Ukrainian equestrian.
• George Zinkhan, 57, American academic and suspected murderer, suicide by gunshot.

10

• Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, 45-46, Libyan Al-Qaeda paramilitary trainer accused of terrorism, alleged suicide.
• Robert John Cornell, 89, American politician and Roman Catholic priest, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin.
• Ronald Easterbrook, 78, British criminal.
• Sergio Escobedo, 78, Mexican Olympic modern pentathlete and fencer.
• Johnnie Johnson, 91, English cricketer.
• James Kirkup, 91, British poet, translator and travel writer, stroke.
• Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano, 47, Guatemalan lawyer, shot.
• Brian Simnjanovski, 27, American football player, car accident.
• Robert J. Sinclair, 77, American executive, CEO of Saab-Scania of America, cancer.

11

• Pat Booth, 66, British model and writer, cancer.
• Lude Check, 91, Canadian ice hockey player.
• Abel Goumba, 82, Central African politician, Prime Minister and vice-president.
• Claudio Huepe, 69, Chilean politician and diplomat, heart attack.
• Bill Kelso, 69, American baseball player.
• Roy Kline, 93, Australian footballer.
• Mark Landon, 60, American actor, adopted son of Michael Landon.
• Shanthi Lekha, 79, Sri Lankan actress.
• António Lopes dos Santos, 92, Portuguese general, Governor of Macau, Cape Verde.
• Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda, 93, Indian admiral, Chief of Naval Staff.
• Peter Philips, 81, Australian politician, Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.
• Sir Richard Posnett, 89, British colonial administrator, Governor of Belize and Bermuda.
• Leonard Shlain, 71, American surgeon and writer, brain cancer.

12

• Christopher Bathurst, 3rd Viscount Bledisloe, 74, British aristocrat and politician, heart failure.
• Dame Heather Begg, 76, New Zealand operatic soprano, leukemia.
• Mohan Ellawala, 61, Sri Lankan politician, Governor of Sabaragamuwa Province, after long illness.
• Eden Ross Lipson, 66, American book editor, pancreatic cancer.
• Thomas Nordseth-Tiller, 28, Norwegian screenwriter, cancer.
• Roger Planchon, 77, French theatre director, heart attack.
• Sidique Ali Merican, 78, Malaysian sprinter, stroke.
• Ted Sampley, 63, American POW/MIA activist, complications from heart surgery.
• Antonio Vega, 51, Spanish pop singer-songwriter, pneumonia.
• Heini Walter, 81, Swiss racing driver.

13

• Frank Aletter, 83, American character actor, cancer.
• Ron Cameron, 85, Canadian Olympic rower.
• Waldemar Levy Cardoso, 108, Brazilian Field Marshal, WWI-era veteran.
• Achille Compagnoni, 94, Italian mountaineer, first person to ascend K2.
• Don Cordner, 87, Australian footballer.
• Rafael Escalona, 81, Colombian Vallenato composer and troubador.
• Norbert Eschmann, 75, Swiss footballer.
• Ernest Kline, 79, American politician, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania.
• Iwan Schmid, 61, Swiss Olympic cyclist.
• Anne Scott-James, 96, British journalist and author, widow of Sir Osbert Lancaster.
• L. William Seidman, 88, American public servant, Chairman of the FDIC, after short illness.
• Joe Tandy, 26, British auto racing team owner, car crash.

14

• Barathea, 19, Irish racehorse, euthanized.
• Monica Bleibtreu, 65, Austrian actress, screenwriter and drama teacher, cancer.
• Bob Boyd, 81, American football player.
• Newt Heisley, 88, American commercial artist, designer of POW/MIA flag, after long illness.
• Ken Hollyman, 86, Welsh footballer.
• Marian McDougall, 95, American amateur golfer.
• Buddy Montgomery, 79, American jazz musician, heart failure.
• William J. Passmore, 77, American jockey, complications from emphysema.
• Bob Rosburg, 82, American golfer and television color analyst, fall.
• George Williams, 69, American baseball player.

15

• Susanna Agnelli, 87, Italian politician and writer, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
• Alexander Gordon Bearn, 86, British physician.
• Broad Brush, 26, American thoroughbred racehorse, euthanized.
• Si Frumkin, 78, Lithuanian-born Holocaust survivor.
• Alan Hackney, 84, British screenwriter.
• Mordechai Limon, 85, Israeli admiral, Commander of the Navy.
• Cheikh Hamidou Kane Mathiara, 69, Senegalese economist and politician.
• Rodger McFarlane, 54, American gay rights activist, first executive director of Gay Men's Health Crisis, suicide.
• Mohammad-Amin Riahi, 86, Iranian historian and literary scholar.
• Edwin S. Shneidman, 91, American suicidologist.
• Helvi Sipilä, 94, Finnish diplomat.
• Roy Talbot, 94, Bermudan calypso musician, last surviving member of original Talbot Brothers.
• Bud Tingwell, 86, Australian actor, prostate cancer.
• Wayman Tisdale, 44, American basketball player and jazz bassist, cancer.
• Hubert van Es, 67, Dutch photographer at the fall of Saigon, brain hemorrhage.

16

• Prospero Amatong, 77, Filipino politician, Congressman, Governor of Davao del Norte, fall.
• Antonio Chocano, 96, Guatemalan Olympic fencer and diplomat, emphysema.
• John E. Connelly, 82, American entrepreneur, founder of Gateway Clipper Fleet, heart failure.
• David Halsey, 90, British Anglican prelate, Bishop of Carlisle, after short illness.
• Sándor Katona, 66, Hungarian footballer and Olympic champion.
• Richardene Kloppers, 83, Namibian teacher.
• Craig G. Roberts, 78, American racehorse trainer.
• Peter Sampson, 81, British footballer, Alzheimer's disease.

17

• Mohammad-Taqi Bahjat Foumani, 92, Iranian cleric, heart disease.
• Mario Benedetti, 88, Uruguayan author and poet.
• Daniel Carasso, 103, Greek-born French businessman.
• Adolf Dickfeld, 99, German World War II Luftwaffe flying ace.
• David Herbert Donald, 88, American historian, heart failure.
• Murray Hamilton, 91, Australian politician, member of the Victorian Legislative Council.
• Masaru Hayami, 84, Japanese public servant, Governor of the Bank of Japan, respiratory failure.
• David Ireland, 78, American sculptor and conceptual artist, pneumonia.
• Jung Seung-hye, 44, South Korean film producer, colon cancer.
• Sunwoo Jin, 87, Korean politician and activist.
• Guillermo Lora, 87, Bolivian revolutionary leader, liver cancer.
• Dame Patricia Mackinnon, 97, Australian community worker and philanthropist, President of the Royal Children's Hospital.
• Prakash Mehra, 69, Indian film producer and director, pneumonia and multiple organ failure.
• William Moore, 60, British loyalist paramilitary, member of the Shankill Butchers, suspected heart attack.
• Zdeněk Pospíšil, 84, Czech Olympic sprinter.
• Peter Slabakov, 86, Bulgarian actor.
• Ron Snidow, 67, American football player, complications from Lou Gehrig's disease.
• Octavia St. Laurent, 45, American trans woman and performer.
• Al Tornabene, 86, American mobster.

18

• Wayne Allwine, 62, American voice artist.
• Carole Cole, 64, American actress, daughter of Nat King Cole, lung cancer.
• Dolla, 21, American rap artist, shot.
• Sir David Hay, 92, Australian public servant, Ambassador to the United Nations, Administrator of Papua New Guinea.
• Isaipriya, 26-27, Sri Lankan journalist, killed.
• K. Pattabhi Jois, 93, Indian yoga teacher, after short illness.
• Paul Parin, 92, Swiss psychoanalyst, author and ethnologist.
• Türkan Saylan, 74, Turkish doctor, cancer.
• Lee Solters, 89, American press agent, natural causes.
• Either killed in a missile attack or shot:
• *Pottu Amman, Sri Lankan rebel, leader of the LTTE intelligence wing.
• *Balasingham Nadesan, Sri Lankan rebel, political chief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
• *Velupillai Prabhakaran, 54, Sri Lankan rebel, leader of the LTTE.
• *Soosai, 45, Sri Lankan rebel, leader of the LTTE naval wing.

19

• Michael Preston Barr, 82, American composer, diabetes.
• Robert F. Furchgott, 92, American scientist, Nobel Prize winner.
• Andrei Ivanov, 42, Russian footballer.
• Knut Hammer Larsen, 38, Norwegian footballer, leukemia.
• Nicholas Maw, 73, British composer, heart failure.
• Clint Smith, 95, Canadian ice hockey player.
• Herbert York, 87, American physicist.

20

• John Brown Jr., 88, American Navajo code talker.
• Arthur Erickson, 84, Canadian architect.
• Lucy Gordon, 28, British actress, suicide by hanging.
• Alan Kelly Sr., 72, Irish footballer, cancer.
• Matthew Krel, 64, Russian-born Australian conductor, founder of the SBS Youth Orchestra, encephalitis.
• Randi Lindtner Næss, 104, Norwegian actress.
• Nguyễn Bá Cẩn, 78, South Vietnamese politician, Prime Minister of South Vietnam.
• Simon Oates, 77, British actor, prostate cancer.
• Larry Rice, 63, American racing driver, lung cancer.
• Roslyn L. Schulte, 25, United States Air Force officer, killed in action.
• María Amelia López Soliño, 97, Spanish blogger, world's oldest blogger.
• Noel Stanton, 82, British founder of The Jesus Army.
• Paul Vinar, 69, Australian footballer.
• Ralph D. Winter, 84, American missionary, multiple myeloma and lymphoma.
• Oleg Yankovsky, 65, Russian actor, pancreatic cancer.
• Yehoshua Zettler, 91, Israeli resistance fighter.
• Jerzy Zubrzycki, 89, Polish-born Australian sociologist.

21

• Ghader Abdollahzadeh, 83, Kurdish traditional musician.
• Joan Alexander, 94, American radio actress, intestinal blockage.
• Walter da Silva, 68, Brazilian footballer and coach, heart attack.
• Fathi Eljahmi, 68, Libyan political activist, blood infection.
• Barry England, 77, British novelist and playwright.
• Anatoli Kirilov, 42, Bulgarian football coach, car accident.
• Him Mark Lai, 83, American historian, bladder cancer.
• Sam Maloof, 93, American woodworker, pneumonia.
• Rolf McPherson, 96, American evangelist, son of Aimee Semple McPherson, natural causes.
• Robert Müller, 28, German ice hockey player, brain cancer.
• K. Pathmanathan, 64, Sri Lankan politician.
• Togo Tanaka, 93, American journalist, natural causes.

22

• Yves Duval, 75, Belgian comics author.
• Henry Jerrim, 93, Australian bishop.
• Alexander Mezhirov, 86, Russian poet.
• Zé Rodrix, 61, Brazilian musician.
• Yeo Woon-kay, 69, South Korean actress, kidney cancer.

23

• Charles Donald Albury, 88, American co-pilot of the Bockscar at atomic bombing of Nagasaki, heart failure.
• Sir Derek Bowett, 82, British academic lawyer, President of Queens' College, Cambridge.
• Raleigh Brown, 87, American politician, state representative, heart attack.
• Lawrence Daly, 84, British trade union leader.
• Joseph Duval, 80, French Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Rouen.
• Ken Gill, 81, British trade union leader.
• David Lunceford, 75, American football player, Alzheimer's disease.
• Nicholas J. Phillips, 75, British physicist.
• Tadeusz Pyka, 79, Polish politician.
• Roh Moo-hyun, 62, South Korean politician, President, suicide by jumping.
• Sir Tangaroa Tangaroa, 88, Cook Islands public servant, Queen's Representative.

24

• Jay Bennett, 45, American musician and songwriter, accidental drug overdose.
• Jack Lewis, 84, American screenwriter, lung cancer.

25

• Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, 48, Nigerian Pan African activist, car accident.
• Billy Baxter, 70, Scottish footballer, cancer.
• Rolf Brahde, 91, Norwegian astronomer.
• Amos Elon, 82, Austrian-born Israeli author and journalist.
• John R. Guthrie, 87, American general.
• Charly Höllering, 65, German jazz musician, heart attack.
• Reg Libbis, 75, Australian rower.
• Haakon Lie, 103, Norwegian politician.
• Tomás Paquete, 85, Portuguese Olympic sprinter.
• Ivan van Sertima, 74, Guyanese-born British historian, linguist and anthropologist.

26

• Antonio Braga, 80, Italian composer.
• Thomas Claw, 87, American WWII Navajo Code talker.
• Commanche Court, 16, Irish thoroughbred racehorse, euthanized.
• Arcangelo Ianelli, 86, Brazilian painter.
• Kaoru Kurimoto, 56, Japanese author, pancreatic cancer.
• Doris Mühringer, 88, Austrian poet and children's writer.
• Mihalis Papagiannakis, 68, Greek politician, MP, cancer.
• Michael Ross, 89, American screenwriter and director, complications from a heart attack and stroke.
• Ronald Takaki, 70, American sociologist, professor of ethnic studies, suicide.
• Marek Walczewski, 72, Polish actor.
• Peter Zezel, 44, Canadian ice hockey player, haemolytic anemia.

27

• Ammo Baba, 74, Iraqi footballer and athletic trainer, diabetes.
• Thomas M. Franck, 77, American lawyer.
• Sir Clive Granger, 74, British economist, Nobel Prize winner for economics.
• Mona Grey, 98, British public servant, Chief Nursing Officer for Northern Ireland.
• Abram Hoffer, 92, Canadian orthomolecular psychiatrist.
• Gérard Jean-Juste, 62, Haitian political activist, after long illness.
• Carol Anne O'Marie, 75, American Roman Catholic nun and mystery novelist, Parkinson's disease.
• Sir William Refshauge, 96, Australian public health administrator.
• Paul Sharratt, 75, British-born American television producer, cancer.

28

• Mort Abrahams, 93, American film and television producer, natural causes.
• Terence Alexander, 86, British film and television actor.
• Terry Barr, 73, American football player, Alzheimer's disease.
• Manuel Collantes, 91, Filipino diplomat, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, cardiac arrest.
• Ed Dorohoy, 80, Canadian ice hockey player.
• Carlton Forbes, 72, Jamaican-born British first-class cricketer.
• Marciano Guzman, Filipino poet.
• Roger Kaffer, 81, American Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Joliet.
• Luis María de Larrea y Legarreta, 91, Spanish Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Bilbao.
• Lenrie Peters, 76, Gambian surgeon and novelist, after short illness.
• Ercole Rabitti, 87, Italian footballer and trainer.
• Oleg Shenin, 71, Russian politician, member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
• Umberto Silvestri, 93, Italian Olympic wrestler.
• Betty Tancock, 98, Canadian Olympic swimmer.
• John Tolos, 78, Canadian professional wrestler, renal failure.

29

• Hank Bassen, 76, Canadian ice hockey player, heart attack.
• Kevin Beurle, 53, British scientist, hot air balloon accident.
• Reginald Golledge, 71, Australian-born American geographer.
• Phale Hale, 94, American politician, member of the Ohio House of Representatives.
• Ed Murray, 80, American politician, speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives.
• Bill Perkins, 89, Australian footballer.
• Steve Prest, 43, British snooker player and coach, peritonitis.
• Karine Ruby, 31, French Olympic gold and silver medal-winning snowboarder, fall.
• Matt Zabitka, 88, American sportswriter.

30

• Torsten Andersson, 82, Swedish painter.
• Krystyna Borowicz, 86, Polish actress.
• Luís Cabral, 78, Guinea-Bissauan politician, President.
• Eva Dawes, 96, Canadian bronze medal-winning Olympic high jumper, stroke.
• Roberto Falaschi, 77, Italian cyclist.
• Susanna Haapoja, 42, Finnish politician, cerebral haemorrhage.
• Eric Hammond, 79, British trade unionist, General Secretary of the EETPU.
• Ephraim Katzir, 93, Israeli biophysicist and politician, President.
• Herma Kirchschläger, 93, Austrian widow of former President Rudolf Kirchschläger.
• Waldemar Matuška, 76, Czech singer, pneumonia and heart failure.
• Gaafar Nimeiry, 79, Sudanese politician, President.
• Alexander Obregón, 31, Colombian footballer, car accident.

31

• Martin Clemens, 94, British colonial administrator and soldier.
• Millvina Dean, 97, British civil servant and cartographer, last living passenger aboard the, pneumonia.
• Brian Edrich, 86, British cricketer.
• Sir John Holland, 94, Australian engineer, construction magnate.
• Danny La Rue, 81, Irish-born British female impersonator and singer, prostate cancer.
• Vyacheslav Nevinny, 74, Russian actor, diabetes.
• Emil L. Smith, 97, American biochemist, heart attack.
• Kamala Surayya, 75, Indian writer, after long illness.
• George Tiller, 67, American physician and abortion provider, shot.